Castletown resident and Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has sparked the latest public outrage at the BBC over a joke he made at the weekend.

On Sunday’s Top Gear programme, the 48 year-old was taking part in a lorry-driving challenge when he joked about truck drivers killing prostitutes.

Afterwards, nearly 200 people complained to the BBC, and broadcast regulator Ofcom has also now been called in.

The pre-watershed remark came a week after 30,000 people complained about Jonathon Ross and Russell Brand.

In a statement, the BBC said: "The vast majority of Top Gear viewers have clear expectations of Jeremy Clarkson's long-established and frequently provocative on-screen persona.

"This particular reference was used to comically exaggerate and make ridiculous an unfair urban myth about the world of lorry driving, and was not intended to cause offence."

An Ofcom spokesman said the complaints were being investigated.

(Picture: Jeremy Clarkson).